IAMCR conference in Mexico
In July I attended the International Association for Media and Communication Research’s in Mexico City with a paper, and it was great to meet colleagues from around the world working in similar fields as I do. For almost a week Centro Cultural Tlatelolco was humming with conversation about media and communications, and in particular their relation to human rights, democracy, and social justice.
Amongst the many interesting presentations, I’d highlight in particular Melissa Brough and Sasha Costanza-Chock’s work, dealing with the much larger MacArthur-funded VozMob (Mobile Voices/Voces Moviles) project that they are involved in. It is a piece of participatory community media research, aiming to build a sustainable communications infrastructure for undocumented labourers in the Los Angeles area, and perhaps »export« it to related communities of workers and activists elsewhere. The project is both intellectually interesting and socially and politically important, and I hope to follow it as it develops.
